Providing Toronto and the Markham area with its most unique day camp, overnight camp and outdoor education programs on two beautiful properties.
Great things happen in the Great Outdoors!

Willowgrove

Great Things Happen in the Great Outdoors

"We live abroad, and Willowgrove is a 'must-do' as far as our girls are concerned when we go back to Canada to visit family. We really appreciate how much effort the staff at Willowgrove puts into making sure the kids have a stupendous summer visit every year!

Camper Parent

Willowgrove

History of Willowgrove

Willowgrove is settled in the territory of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaune, and Huron-Wendat Peoples, the Indigenous Peoples who have been the traditional caretakers of this land. In honour of the history and the treaties, we pledge to care for and use this land respectfully.

In 1968, three Mennonite pastors in Stouffville, Ontario, Glen Brubacher, Emerson McDowell and Nickolas Dick, foresaw the creation of a camp for children & youth on a private, quiet piece of rural land where people could congregate in the great outdoors and healthy relationships could be nurtured with God.

Willowgrove is an independent, not-for-profit, charitable association of volunteers and professionals committed to serving a diverse community, peace and non-violence, and caring for the land God has entrusted to us. We offer many ways to have great adventures in the great outdoors:

Great Things Happen in the Great Outdoors!

What you will discover at our Stouffville property

Our Stouffville property includes a 100-acre property that features a hardwood forest, a pond, rolling hills and a clear-running stream. (In fact… the stream was officially named “Willowgrove Creek” in 2003, honouring Willowgrove’s contributions to the community.) Drop in while our Summer Day Camp is in progress in July and August and you will see happy, laughing children catching crayfish and frogs, building forts in the bush or participating in a wide variety of sporting activities. Drop in during the winter months and you will likely see children snowshoeing, crazy carpeting,or enjoying the smell of a pot of cooking maple syrup.

Scattered throughout the property, which also includes 40 acres of cropland, are a lighted baseball diamond, soccer field, basketball court, pavilion, swimming pools, mini-putt course, dining hall and other shelter facilities. Portables house the office, school classrooms and other utility areas. Past the main parking area is the barn area that accommodates our pigs, egg-laying chickens, cows, goats, sheep and a donkey. The barn area also includes the indoor climbing facility (14 routes and bouldering wall), arts and crafts, mountain biking depot, pioneer centre and the popular “hayloft” playgrounds.

Campers and/or school field trip students also get to enjoy the playground, campfire areas, low-ropes course, picnic areas, pasture and trails designed for wagon-rides, snowshoeing or just a quiet stroll.

What you will discover at our Fraser Lake property (Bancroft)

Our overnight campus (Fraser Lake) is a 270-acre lakeside facility situated in the beautiful Kawartha region of Ontario. The property features a half mile of shoreline, over 160 acres of forest, large rolling fields and a deep lake that is ideal for swimming, kayaking and fishing. It is a true country experience where campers share the land with a wide variety of wildlife.

Open from early spring through the fall, Fraser has cabins and a dining hall designed to accommodate 180 people. Program elements and more complete facility listings are available on the Fraser Lake overnight camp web site.

Water report and Customer Service documents

Notice to users of Willowgrove and Fraser Lake water systems: Our annual water system report is available free of charge at the Willowgrove office at 11737 McCowan Road, Stouffville, Ontario L4A 7X5.

The documents required by the Customer Service Standard Act are available upon request to info@willowgrove.ca or by phoning 905-640-2127.

In compliance with the closure of all non-essential businesses, the Willowgrove office will be closed until further notice. These measures are being made in solidarity with province-wide efforts to minimize the spread of novel COVID-19.

All Willowgrove staff will be working remotely while the office is closed. While we will not be available to take any calls, we encourage anyone who would like to contact us to do so through email. If you are unsure who the best person is to contact, please email info@willowgrove.ca and your email will be directed to the correct person.